Identity theft facts

How identity theft occurs

Identity theft is one of the nation’s fastest-growing crimes, affecting more than 9 million people each year. The more you know about this prevalent crime, the better prepared you will be to protect yourself. Identity thieves can get hold of your personal information in a variety of sneaky and illegal ways:

Your mail—

• They go through your mail and take your bank and credit card statements, pre-approved credit offers, and tax information

• They complete a "change of address form" and reroute your mail to another location


Stealing your information—

• They steal your wallet or purse containing your personal identification and credit cards

• They “dumpster dive,” rummaging through trash bins for your personal information such as unshredded credit card and loan applications

• They "shoulder surf" at ATM machines and phone booths in order to capture PIN numbers


Buying your information from a third party—

• They buy your personal information from "inside" sources. For instance, an identity thief may pay a store employee for a copy of your credit application


While pretending to be you, thieves—

• Call your credit card company and ask to change the mailing address on your credit card account. Then, they run up the charges on your credit card. Because your bills are being sent to the new address, it may take some time before you realize what’s going on

• Use your name, date of birth and SSN, to open a new credit card account. They use the credit card and don't pay the bills. Or, sometimes they make the minimum payment every month so that the activity can go on, unnoticed, for months

• Establish phone or wireless service in your name

• Open a checking account in your name and write bad checks

• File for bankruptcy under your name to avoid paying the debts they’ve incurred as you.